Movie notes: The paradox of ‘The Devil Inside’

Has there ever been a stranger start to a new movie year? “The Devil Inside,” the first mainstream film out of the gate in 2012, managed the unheard-of feat of breaking box-office records while infuriating the people who went to see it.

As I mentioned yesterday, the found-footage supernatural horror flick confounded box-office analysts by earning $33.7 million last weekend, a record for the first weekend of January and the month’s third highest total ever. But what most analysts noted only in passing was that audiences hated it.

The film’s Tomatometer rating has dropped from 7 to 6 since yesterday, which is no surprise. That’s the critics speaking, and it was a foregone conclusion that they wouldn’t like it. But the audience score of RottenTomatoes is a paltry 26, which is as shocking as the movie. Fans of niche films are predisposed to like a film far more than the more mainstream fare. What turns critics off excites the horror/supernatural crowd, usually.

But wait, it gets worse. The audience tracker CinemaScope gave “The Devil Inside” an F. As the horror site DreadCentral pointed out, it’s only the sixth film to get such a rotten score. The others? “The Box” (Cameron Diaz), “Bug” (Ashley Judd), “Solaris” (a sci-fi remake starring George Clooney), “Darkness” and “Wolf Creek.”

And the critics and fans agree on something else, which almost never happens with niche films: The ending is horrible. Without giving too much away, it seems sudden and arbitrary, to put it mildly. And the final scene is followed by an onscreen web address.

The critics were not amused. A sampling of their reactions:

“The biggest shock arrives when it abruptly ends — just as it hits its stride” — Clark Collis, Entertainment Weekly

“The ending is such a cheat that you’ll be fighting back the urge to boo the closing credits.” — Roger Moore, McClatchy Tribune Service

According to reports, audiences didn’t fight the urge. Phillips quotes tweets from theaters across the country reporting reactions similar to the Chicago screenings. And a YouTube video showing the ending lasts long enough to hear the audience’s derision as the URL pops onto the screen. Not surprisingly, the video has already been taken down, as Paramount Pictures, the distributor, submitted a copyright claim.

Writing for Slate.com, David Haglund outlines the whole thing. He has even more spoilers, so be warned.